1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for selecting a desired one of a plurality of image forming apparatuses and issuing an output command to the selected image forming apparatus, an image processing system including the image forming apparatuses, an image data processing method of processing image data, and a storage medium storing a program for executing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image processing system has been known, which is comprised of a plurality of image forming apparatuses including monochrome or color printers, a computer, and a network such as a LAN, the image forming apparatuses and the computer being connected to each other via the network or an exclusive interface so that a user can select a desired one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses on the computer to carry out a printing process using the selected image forming apparatus.
A client server image processing system has also been widely known, which is comprised of a client computer (hereinafter referred to as “the client”) directly operated by a user, a document server computer (hereinafter referred to as “the document server”) for carrying out a predetermined process in response to a request from the client, a plurality of image forming apparatuses as mentioned above, and a network, the client, the document server and the image forming apparatuses being connected to each other via the network so that a printing job designated by the user is transferred from the client via the document server to a desired one of the image processing apparatuses, which then executes a printing process.
In the market of light printing, that is, print on demand, systems for causing an image forming apparatus to print a large amount of printing jobs based on a command from a computer have been proposed. It has thus been important how a large amount of printing jobs can be processed inexpensively and efficiently.
With the above conventional image processing system, however, the same printing job is processed by a single image processing apparatus, so that in processing a printing job comprising printing both color image data (hereinafter simply referred to as “color data”) and black-and-white image data (hereinafter simply referred to as “black-and-white data”), even black-and-white data are processed by an image forming apparatus adapted for color printing, thereby disadvantageously leading to increased running costs. That is, the color printing has a higher unit price (printing cost) than the black-and-white printing, but if the printing job comprises printing both color data and black-and-white data, a color image forming apparatus is selected for the printing process and even the black-and-white data in the printing job are thus processed by the color image forming apparatus, thereby leading to degraded efficiency of the printing process and increased running costs. Thus, the conventional image processing system is not suitable for processing a large amount of printing jobs. For such a system, it is desirable to prevent inconveniences such as complicated operations required of an operator, generate desired data for the operator, and allow the operator to work more efficiently.